An Aftershock of Hope and Fear: Chapter Five

               Interitus 3: Short Story #1: An Aftershock of Hope and Fear

Chapter Five

 

The sound of dripping water was the first thing he heard when he awoke. His face rested flat against the dusty floor of his cell, and his tired eyes stared at the only light in the dulled darkness. It came from candlelight seeping in through the crack of a tilted door, across the room on the other side of the bars. The flicker of fiery light shimmered in each drop of water which fell from the ceiling and into a dark puddle. With each descending drop, tiny droplets of water splashed into the air and momentarily caught fire from the scarlet glow. Abraham narrowed his eyes when the next drop cascaded into the puddle, using the incident reflection to search the adjacent cells for Ophelia. But once again, they were all empty. He had hardly seen her since they arrived in this makeshift prison, and he had already lost track of time. With no exposure to the outside daylight, he had no way to tell day from night. All he could say for sure was that they had so far fed him fifteen meager meals.

During the many nights he had spent there, Abraham often heard large waves crash ashore. Sometimes he heard gusts which were heavy enough to shake the rafters. But now, the only sound besides the dripping water was the rhythmic patter of slow footsteps. The patter was light, suggesting the nimble footsteps of a slender woman. When her hand gripped the doorknob, Abraham took a deep breath in anticipation; he could see the azure glow of fire piercing through the crack of the door. Ophelia stepped inside the makeshift jail, but to Abraham’s surprise, there was another person behind her. Even though their footsteps made no sound, the large figure waited at the jail entrance until she stood at a safe distance from the door. The large door then slammed shut, this time locking with an audible click.

Ophelia turned her attention toward Abraham, searching for signs of life as her incendiary serpent lit the dusty darkness. Streams of sparks danced between orange and blue, casting color upon the jail cell. The metal bars were so rusty that they did not reflect the fiery glow, but it forced a shimmer on the surface of his bloodshot eyes. Abraham narrowed his eyes and weakly pulled himself upright, staring timidly at his bloodstained friend. Her dark hair camouflaged with the shadows, but the light of the serpent revealed the blood which descended from her lips. It covered her arms and her clothes, drying slowly from the heat of the fire. She stood with one foot beneath the fiery light while the other stayed shrouded in shadow.

“What have they done to you?” Abraham asked with a voice which was hoarse from days of silence.

“Exactly what we feared, it seems. When I first awakened as a Taenarius, it felt like I suffered an internal divergence; my bloodlust devoured the ones I loved while my forlorn heart was forced to watch in silence. That monstrous piece stayed in control until we met, but these people are determined to undo everything we worked for. They are force-feeding me victims which they once reserved for themselves. They say that I am almost strong enough for the invocation; I am already a perfect vessel for Sirius Andromeda. But if I seize your spirit of the seismic flux, then he can return to this world stronger ever. They mean to make you my final kill,” Ophelia explained.

Abraham could not fight the grimace which settled on his face. He weakly grabbed the bars for support as he took a step closer. Her eyes were red and puffy from recent tears. Her hands trembled even as fire spiraled around her. He tilted his head just slightly, and this movement caused her eyes to narrow. Everything about her radiated a sense of fear. He hated that it was his proximity that frightened her, as instinctive as her reaction was, but he retreated two steps anyway. This small distance alone was enough to take the edge off of her insipient terror.

“Is that why you don’t want to be here?” asked Abraham.

Ophelia relaxed her trembling limbs and answered, “I cannot say that I care about stopping the dark sorcerer’s rebirth. Of course I would prefer that the invocation fails, but the true reason I detest it is because it means we cannot be together. It is a matter of intention and ambition; that is what separates you and me. You concern yourself with redemption, justifying your existence before you become a slave to the monster inside you. Almost like you strive to be better than you actually are. A miscreant who wants to be a righteous man even though his heart is held in the shackles of malevolence.

“But as for me? I gave up on redemption and righteousness a long time ago. I drowned in the sea before I had a chance. There is no place for true goodness in this world, and I cannot pretend otherwise. I cannot even lament the regrettable reality. It is what it is, and it is nothing more. I am who I am, and I can be nothing more. I never believed in betterment or redemption, so that was never my reason. All my life, the only thing that mattered was finding someone who cares; that was all I ever wanted. So when you found me in the shambles of my own self-destruction, when you proved yourself as someone who cares, you became all I ever wanted.”

“Then why is it that you stare at me now like I am the source of all your terror?” Abraham asked, setting his hand upon a steel bar.

“Zorander Kalani believes my lust for power will consume me as I devour more life. He said that when the invocation is almost complete, I will devour you by my own volition. No force necessary. I will be nothing more than a murderous husk, perfect and prepped for the ultimate ritual. He said this to serve as a source of fear, but instead you became my source of hope. Hear me out. As long as I could consume their victims and hold myself together, then that meant I never had to hurt you. I told myself that that was my future, or at least it had to be, because there is no future in which I am without you,” she said.

“I believe in you. And when you become powerful enough, perhaps you can use that new strength to overcome your captors,” Abraham suggested.

But Ophelia shook her head and replied, “I am already powerful enough to overcome them. And while your body may have grown weak in this cell, your impulse is as strong as ever. We are ready to break free today. Do you know how long you have been locked in this cell? Do you know how many islanders have been captured and supplied to me?!”

Abraham shook his head at her question, but he let his tired eyes fall to the dusty floor with fear. Ophelia set her hand upon his from the other side of the bars, but he nearly jolted at her touch; it was only by clenching onto the metal bar that he managed to resist this reflex. Two streams of colorful fire spiraled along her extremities, and it heated the dank cell as she stepped closer. Out of the corner of his eye, Abraham watched another drop of murky water descend from the ceiling. As it fell, the drop ignited with color as it caught the fiery light. When it splashed down into the puddle, tiny droplets danced into the air with a blazing glow. As her hand held his, he felt the sticky touch of someone else’s blood stain his palms.

“You said that they forced you to devour their victims, right?” asked Abraham.

“It was true at first. It was true until I was forced to accept that I had no alternative. It was true until I realized that they imprisoned us because we were weak. It was true until I realized that they were handing me the cure for this weakness. It was true until I realized that I could use this power to destroy them—to vanquish anyone who ever dares to keep us apart. I am now strong enough! So what do you say, Abraham? Are you ready to run away with me?” she asked through the prison bars.

Abraham reflexively winced at the question, knowing that she had stepped with one foot into the darkness—a circumstance he had hoped to avoid. But despite her forfeiture to her own lust for power, she had managed to keep her ambition intact. Despite her forfeiture, she still denied the darkest piece of herself so that she could save him. With a reluctant nod, Abraham released his hold on the prison bars and smiled at her.

“You deserve to be free. We deserve to be together. You asked how long I spent locked in this cell, and the truth is that I lost count a long time ago. I couldn’t keep track of myself in here. I wanted to break free and save you with my own hands, but they swore that they would kill us both if I tried anything of the sort. So… I gave up on myself in here, I think. I couldn’t even concern myself with our captors or the dark sorcerer that they dream of rebuilding. All I could think about was you. My life changed on the night we met, and while I detest every detail of this damning curse, I will always revere it because it allowed me to find you. I think I fell in love with you on the night you nearly killed me. So you know what? We’re all monsters anyway. Let’s get out of here and forge the future for which we fought all along,” said Abraham.

Ophelia pulled herself up against the bars and wrapped her arms around his. She kissed him in this half-complete embrace, and the fiery serpent spiraled around them both in this dusty space. Her lips changed shape as they kissed, smiling so widely that she had to readjust her head. She struggled to fit part of her face between the bars, but it was just enough to express her emotion. When their kiss concluded, she slowly dragged her fingertips along her arms as the spiraling serpent returned to her body. She then took a step backward and lifted her right hand. Abraham stepped back with a gaze of curious satisfaction, and then she shattered the bars with a high-speed chop. The extreme heat of the incendiary serpent left the edges of the bars glowing red, and then a deafening clamor echoed from the fall of broken bars. He quickly squirmed his way through the opening and wrapped his arms around her, amazed by the demonstration of her new power.

“Please stay at a safe distance, my love. The guards are on their way. After I strike them down, you can follow after me,” she whispered as heavy footsteps clamored in the distance.

There was a flash of concern in his blue-green eyes, but Abraham ultimately nodded and stood back; he knew they did not have time to question her decision. The heavy footsteps revealed four pairs of shod feet, all forceful enough to make the broken bars tremble on the ground. Ophelia smiled and approached the door, holding out her right hand. Her streaming fire turned from azure to bright white. Two streams of fire spiraled along her right arm as a double helix, and she balled her fist in the moment they converged. Ethereal white fire engulfed her body as she whispered, “They wasted their lives chasing another man’s dream. It’s such a shame that this is where their nightmare ends. Incendiary Serpent: Soul on Fire.”

The heat radiated throughout the makeshift prison; Abraham could feel it searing his skin from a distance. Even with his eyes closed, he still saw Ophelia’s luminous silhouette. The door to the prison pushed open, and two men charged inside with shields and swords in their powerful hands. With a deep shout, the first soldier charged Ophelia while swinging his sword, but it melted and shattered when it struck her glowing silhouette. The white fire which engulfed her then burgeoned in that moment, and she reached her left hand straight into his chest. Every inch of flesh and bone melted beneath her touch, and she liquefied his body as she stepped forward. A repugnant stench flooded the prison as the second soldier tried desperately to attack, but all the strength in the world was no match for her fire. When his weapon melted and poured onto the ground, Ophelia reached her molten hands into his body and liquefied him from the inside.

The next two soldiers slammed the door shut and strived to hold it closed on the other side, but even the thick steel door was no match for her heat. With the incendiary serpent as a cloak for her incandescent skin, Ophelia walked through the door like it was just another step. The metal melted instantly beneath her, and though the soldiers desperately lifted their shields, nothing could stop her. Abraham watched with shock as she stepped into their bodies and melted them entirely. The stench of burning flesh lifted from the bubbling puddles of what used to be their bodies, and then the rest of the door fell upon the prison floor with a reverberating slam. Aside from the Ophelia-shaped hole in the center of the door, it made a perfect bridge across the molten remains of everything which once stood in their way.

As the incandescent fire transformed back into a spiraling serpent, the extreme brightness of the makeshift prison quickly declined. Ophelia motioned for Abraham to follow her, finally breaking him free from his stupor. He nervously nodded, and then he dashed over the bridge while desperately trying to ignore his surroundings. Aside from the light of the violet serpent, the only glow came from the molten remnants of everything she touched. But to his dismay, when they stepped into the next corridor, he heard movement coming from elsewhere in the same building. He prayed that she knew a way out of the enclosure, so he followed her through a series of hallways and empty rooms.

While Ophelia and Abraham ran together, he feared that they would not have enough time to escape. He paid only partial attention to the rooms he passed through, including one with shackles and bloodstains; Abraham concluded that this was likely the place where she had devoured the other victims.

“I do not know the way from here, but we are close. I have seen candlelight but never daylight. I suspect that we are underground,” Ophelia quickly conferred, coming to a stop in the open space.

But in a sudden flash of light, an electrical explosion struck Ophelia from behind and launched her against the concrete wall. Her entire body shuddered violently from the paralysis of lightning, but there was no sign of the attacker. Abraham quickly remembered that Zorander Kalani possessed the power of lightning; he could even render himself invisible in his Taenarius form. This was undoubtedly the person who had attacked Ophelia. Abraham roared and charged at the space where Ophelia once stood, and though he missed his enemy, he saw a glow of purple electricity as it first took flight. He flung himself out of the way, narrowly dodging a sudden thunderbolt, and then he forced the ground to tremble.

The earthquake confirmed Ophelia’s suspicion; powerful shockwaves rocked all the entire underground lair. The clamor of falling objects sounded from different rooms, the faint candlelight flickered violently, and Zorander turned himself visible with a look of shocked displeasure. He set his left hand on the trembling wall and yelled, “Are you an idiot?! Underground is the worst place to be in an earthquake; you coulda killed us all! What kind of brilliant plan is that? If you cause a cave-in, the whole place will crumble. We’d all get squished like bugs!”

Trying not to stammer as he feigned adamance, Abraham retorted, “That is exactly my plan! You invested everything for your invocation, but I can end it all in one fell swoop! You found a conduit for the dark sorcerer, and you invested your own victims to prepare her vessel! But I have the power to destroy it all. I can kill you, kill me, and most importantly kill her.”

But Zorander narrowed his eyes and asserted, “You wouldn’t dare to hurt her! I’ve seen the way you look at her, and I know how she feels about you. Hell, you’re a lucky man! She could have all the power in the world, and instead she gave it all up to save an idiot.”

“Abraham, do not bother to reason with him. He only has seconds left to live in the first place. Incendiary Serpent: Firestorm,” Ophelia said with an icy glare as the spiraling fire converged in her hand.

As the spirals of fire forged a sphere, Ophelia narrowed her eyes and launched it with a meteoric speed. The fireball shot across the room and struck Zorander with a boom; the impact slammed his back against the brick wall behind him. He forced streams of electricity to charge along his arms, but then Ophelia shot a second fireball in rapid succession. He desperately kicked off the wall and executed a somersault to escape the fiery shockwave, though the impact forced the room to tremble. However, a third fireball then flew across the dusty room with a deadly speed.

Instead of trying to dodge, Zorander counterattacked by unleashing a thunderbolt at the same time. Both Taenarii were struck by their enemy’s attack at the same time, but the plasmatic explosion only threw Zorander onto the ground. Ophelia had protected herself with the second stream of the incendiary serpent. A shower of electric sparks engulfed her, but the paralysis was powerless to stop her. She smiled widely and shot another sphere of searing flames.

While the fiery shockwave slammed Zorander against the opposite wall, Abraham turned to Ophelia and asked, “Why aren’t we still running? He’d never stop us in the state he’s in.”

“He wasted his life forging the perfect vessel for the dark sorcerer. It is only fair that he suffers the consequence of all the misery he caused. It is an act of justice that he dies in the same way as his many victims,” Ophelia whispered.

Flashes of violet light illuminated the dusty room as Ophelia shot a series of fireballs at her enemy. Abraham watched in shock as she blew his body apart with the power of fire. The stench of burning flesh flooded the dusty air, but it was impossible to see through the smoke and fire. When the seventh sphere struck Zorander, the impact was so puissant that its shockwaves blew back broken bones. Blood and ashes stained the bricks. Even after her firestorm finished, Ophelia illuminated the room with the violet light of her incendiary serpent. It spiraled along her body as she wandered toward the blown-open body of her enemy. With a gaze of worry, Abraham noticed that she was transfixed by the burned organs in the wreckage.

“We are all cursed to become monsters in the end; that is the prophecy. It is an inescapable conclusion. The only way for the light to win is if the darkness devours itself. In a way, I think it’s fitting. Zorander devoted decades of effort to recreating the dark sorcerer, to the extent that this ambition gave him a clarity which withstood the test of time—a test any other would have failed. Now he still may have his wish in the end, but he instead shall become an ingredient. He was the architect of his own destruction,” Ophelia proclaimed with chilling enthusiasm.

As Ophelia dropped to her knees and sank her teeth into the stomach of her fallen foe, Abraham asked, “Is that the truth of where this ends? I know we already resigned that we’ll lose this war to ourselves in the end, but that may be a step too far. Can’t you become a monster without becoming the devil who created us?”

In between bites, Ophelia answered, “Perhaps it is possible under normal circumstances. However, they already started the invocation. I can already sense the spirit of Sirius Andromeda whispering inside my head, like a gentle rapping on the window to my soul. It is as you always said. You and I are destined to fall into madness. The only difference is that I know the madness I adopt will eclipse the world itself. My only solace is that even in our madness, we will be together.”

After the last bite of her enemy’s stomach, Ophelia closed her eyes and stood upright. Abraham could feel her impulse grow stronger from a distance, and the incendiary serpent reflected this transition. Even as it returned to a dormant pair of spirals, the searing fire flashed between bright shades of indigo and violet. When she opened her eyes again, she showed an icy apathy which was merely a trace in the moment before. But after a deep breath, she walked quickly toward the exit of the smoky room. Abraham followed quickly after her, but with one final glance over his shoulder, he saw that cinders scattered the brick walls. The burned and eviscerated body of Zoraster Kalani lay against the opposite wall.

After minutes of wandering through twisting hallways, Abraham asked, “Do you think you can resist Sirius Andromeda?”

“Maybe so, maybe not. The truth is that I anticipate awakening his power with my own right hand. I almost lost you because we were too weak to overcome Zorander when we first fought. But if I inherit the power of the sorcerer who shattered this world, then nothing could ever stand in our way. This island and its inhabitants could fuel us for years to come,” she said.

As they turned a corner which revealed a staircase, Ophelia smiled excitedly and rushed up the steps. However, she stopped and swerved around when she remembered that Abraham had been locked in a cell for a long time. With once glance at his blue-green eyes, she realized that physical weakness was not the reason for his hesitation. With a quiet sigh, he averted his gaze and slowly trudged his way up the staircase.

“Is that truly what you want?” he asked with a grimace.

But even as she helped him climb the stairs, she coldly answered, “It makes no difference. We wanted to abstain from our descent, or hold off from becoming demons for as long as possible. But in reality, the humans are just as monstrous as us, and the proof is our very existence. It is a corollary to the obvious truth that only the strong survive. If our ancestors even managed to survive, which they did because our lives are the proof, then they had to do unspeakable things to the weak. Inconceivable acts of malice. Tribes of tranquil men were hopelessly slaughtered by clans of barbaric marauders—that is humanity’s history. From which of those tribes do you think we all descend? Evil is intrinsic to the human condition. It was never our darkness which made us a threat; it is our power. They would do the same if they could do what we can. I thought that you understood this.”

But as they emerged from the underground and into the light of the sun, Abraham answered, “I do understand. But when we first met, and when we spoke every time since then, you truly wanted what was best for the world. You were an angel, and I was an imposter; it was all I could do to stand in your light. But I think I see the truth now. You aren’t the person you were when we first met. The invocation is almost complete, isn’t it? You can’t tell where Ophelia ends and Andromeda begins.”

“Is that so wrong?” Ophelia asked as she gazed away.

As he nervously glanced from side to side, Abraham realized that the sunlight was not as bright as he initially registered. His eyes adjusted quickly to the faded daylight, and with a glance at the nearby ocean, he saw that the sun approached the western horizon. It cast rays of red light upon the ocean and the slamming waves, but he was more concerned with the village in the other direction. There were small homes made of straw and mud, and the smoke of a small fire lifted into the sky.

Ophelia continued, “Whether or not we accept it, Sirius Andromeda is at the heart of us all. He blessed us with untouchable power, and we in turn became conduits for his rebirth. I have no reason to combat this consequence. It’s not like we could, even if we wanted to.”

“I cannot agree with that. Please, Ophelia. Let’s just run away from here and find a quiet place to live in peace. I can find some books! I can do research. There must be a way to free you from his influence! We could visit the alchemist in Gavara. You don’t have to give up on yourself,” he argued.

“I think you misunderstand me, Abraham. I am not fighting this. I want this. I want it for us both! If I am to become the dark sorcerer, you and I can be together!” Ophelia replied, shouting as she spoke, unable to contain her anger.

But even as violet fire spiraled along her arms, Abraham shook his head with a grimace and answered, “That isn’t possible. You aren’t you anymore. You are not the girl I found in the shambles of a burned town on the night I left my life behind. Truth be told… I don’t even know if you can be saved.”

With a raised eyebrow, Ophelia asked, “Are you really prepared to do this? You may not have a way to save me, but we both know I still have a way to keep you. It all works out in the end, since we were destined for each other from the moment we were born. Two parts of the same whole. Once I devour you as I devoured the others, you and I will live on together as the strongest sorcerer this world has ever seen!”

Abraham jolted backward when he saw her incendiary serpent triple in size. Spiraling streams of fire and sparks ascended from her body, so Abraham swerved and took off running for the ocean. He could not even explain the reason he chose to run in this direction, other than the basic premise that water extinguishes fire.

Ophelia shouted in the background and unleashed two streams of violet fire. They rapidly converged upon Abraham, but instead of incinerating him, the fire surrounded him as a prison of flames. He was too weak to slow himself down, so Abraham tripped himself and slammed onto the sand, just inches away from the edge of the fire circle. He panted from the two-pronged exhaustion, but he used his impulse to fracture the earth beneath the beach. A powerful earthquake emanated from his body, and then the blazing circle disappeared.

“You are trying to escape me. Is that your plan? Do you think you can free me from Andromeda by running away?!” Ophelia shouted.

To Abraham’s surprise, she now stood between him and the crashing waves. Her dark hair danced in the sea breeze, and her fiery spiral overwhelmed the light of the setting sun. The ocean flashed as a brilliant battleground between the sunset and the serpent. He took off running back toward the underground staircase, but he veered before he reached it and instead ran toward a clump of tall trees. However, he quickly realized that she could transform the trees into a forest fire, so he stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.

“I don’t know how to save you, but that does not mean I’m giving up on you! That was never an option. I will search everywhere for a way to free you from him. This can still go back to the way it was before! I just need to get away,” Abraham reasoned.

But as she briskly walked closer, Ophelia laughed aloud and said, “You only see what you want to see! You let hope and fear conceal from you the truth, but this is not a rewritten reality. The invocation has already commenced! Sirius Andromeda and I are one and the same.”

“I won’t ever give up on you, Ophelia. I promise you. You were there for me when I was at my darkest. The least I can do is repay the favor,” Abraham proclaimed, and then he forced the earth to tremble.

With a massive release of tectonic energy, Abraham forced an extraordinary earthquake to tear across the land between them. Large surface waves forced dirt and rock to protrude from the ground, and then they struck Ophelia with enough force to knock her onto the underground staircase. He winced at first, not realizing that he had the strength to throw her that far, but the violent tremor still raged on. The earth above the staircase collapsed on itself, and Abraham watched in shock as the earthquake buried Ophelia underground. The fallen tunnel engulfed her in a cascade of broken rock, and a cloud of dust lifted from the wreckage. As his blood ran cold in his veins, Abraham shouted and took off running; he sprinted toward the mouth of the tunnel and threw himself onto his knees when he arrived. He grabbed broken rock and threw it aside, cursing himself with every breath until he saw a white light pierce the rubble.

“Incendiary Serpent: Soul on Fire!” yelled Ophelia’s voice from underneath the wreckage.

An extreme heat emanated from the underground, and the white light intensified by the moment. All of the debris melted around Ophelia as she ascended from the underground. Abraham climbed to his feet and desperately stumbled backward, watching her emerge from the staircase with white fire encasing her body. Molten rock illuminated the wreckage behind her. Even the ground which surrounded her liquefied from the extraordinary heat. He had to narrow his eyes just so that he would not be blinded by her power.

“Nothing you do can hold me back! Our impulses can converge as one; you and I will be together as we were always meant! Why would you want anything else?” asked Ophelia.

Abraham answered, “Because the girl I fell in love with would have never wanted this! If you were truly yourself, you would have never let this happen. That is the proof that you are under his control, whether or not you even realize it! That is the reason that I will find a way to save you. That is the reason that today I must run away from you.”

A cataclysmic earthquake tore across the ground between them, and the shockwaves were so powerful that tree trunks cracked in the background. A massive fracture tore across the earth with a deafening slam, and Ophelia charged forward with her incandescent flame. Though the earth trembled around her, she maintained her balance by melting the trembling ground; she pierced effortlessly through a quaking world. However, the same fracture which split the ground now tilted the earth, allowing Abraham to run downhill away from her. Cracks emanated outward from the crevice, but he sprinted as quickly as his weak legs could carry him. Just before he reached the ocean, a flash of violet fire illuminated the night. Six walls of cyclonic fire cut off his path to the sea, trapping him with Ophelia in a sweltering circle of scarlet flames. The circle stretched from the sea to the wreckage of the underground staircase. And though flaming debris flew in the air around them, he focused only on her. Ophelia flexed her arms as she unleashed six streams of scarlet, but two tears fell slowly from her bloodshot eyes.

“I swear I never wanted to hurt you! A war is raging inside of me—between the force of the man who cursed my body back to life, and my love for the man who sparked my heart back to life. We are united only in that we cannot bear to see you leave me behind. It took everything I have left just to scream to you goodbye, but I know he will never let you run. I’m so sorry! I truly hoped we would be together,” Ophelia yelled over the sound of crackling fire, struggling to speak clearly over breathy sobs.

But as Abraham pressed his hands together and channeled his spirit of the seismic flux, he stared longingly at her and said, “I am not leaving you behind; I could never abandon you! I will keep you in my memory for as long as it takes, even if it is until one of us ends this world. So this is not goodbye; this is until we meet again.”

In that moment, Abraham superposed a new earthquake upon the aftershock of his last attack; the combined tremor collapsed the entire beach. Crevices tore in all directions, and splashes of lava erupted from below. The seismic waves slammed ashore and raced inland, burying the fractured beach beneath the sea. But by using his power over the tremoring earth, Abraham pulled himself into an underground crevice where he withstood the surging sea.

The furious ocean swallowed the blazing circle and engulfed Ophelia, sparking the perfect opportunity for escape. Abraham returned to the surface of the murky water, and he surfed rebounding waves away from the collapsing island. Small tsunamis emanated outward from the landslide, but even in the wreckage, Abraham saw the light of the incendiary serpent still on shore. The last sliver of the setting sun sank beneath the horizon, but even the afterglow could not compete with the brightness of Ophelia’s serpent. He was far enough away that she could not see him, and so he camouflaged with the darkness and escaped into the night.

As he swam against the ocean waves, Abraham said to himself, “I swear I’ll find a way to end the invocation. Even if I must spend my life on this, I will pay the cost. Even if I must become a monster myself, I will pay the cost. We could say that this is to save the world from the dark sorcerer, but you and I both know the truth. I am on a quest to save the girl I fell in love with, and there is nothing more to it than that. I would strike cities from the earth just to have her back.”